06 February 2013

February Polish Days: Mountains & Gradient Sunset Nails

Hiya everyone! Today is the next edition of Polish Days! The theme for February is "inspired by nature"--full prompt is as follows:

I don’t know about you, but with the snow we’re having in Norwich at the
moment, I feel a little like mother nature is making all the rules. I
love snow, but I’m not too keen when it stands a good chance of stopping
me getting to a conference I’ve wanted to go to for three years
running. So, whether you’re sweating your bollocks off in the Southern
Hemisphere, getting snowed in or just willing spring to return, get
inspired by nature for Februarys Polish Days.

One thing I am quite fond of, be it on nails or on canvas, is a gradient-sky look with a stark silhouetted shape in front of it. I've done paintings of this sort before, but not too many manicures. So, partially taking inspiration from this image for the colours, I created this:

I did the mountains and birds with a small brush and some black acrylic paint, then topped it off with two coats of Cult Nails Wicked Fast. (I didn't notice it until I took these photos, but the topcoat smeared the black a bit on my middle and small nails.) :(

Smeary or not, I still really like this one! A few times today I gazed at it and could almost smell fresh mountain air... imagined sitting on a soft blanket atop freshly-mowed grass as the sun goes down, listening to the birds and drinking a nice cold one.

One more pic, because, sunset nails in the sunset light. Oooh, soooo meta.

Thanks for stopping by! Check out the rest of the Polish Days nature-inspired manis below! xoxo

Thank you so much :D I love your simple-yet-elegant design too! I Don't Give A Rotterdam is one of my favourite polishes <3 Oddly enough, my first idea was to do something quite similar with the branches like yours, but then stamp some birds sitting on them. I ended up going with this idea, but I'll probably do the other idea when spring comes along :D x

Love love love it!!I imagined the same pictures as you described! It's been a very long time since I've been to the mountains in summer, and when I looked at your mani I remembered it at once) Miss the mountains...

Hi! Please share your thoughts below. I love seeing what others have to say, and I read every single comment! Relevant links (such as recreations or similar manis) are welcome; however, spam or advertising will be deleted.

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Hello, I'm Amanda! Welcome to my blog. I love art and painting, and nail colour/design has always been a passion of mine! I'm not a professional, just an enthusiastic hobbyist. By trade, I'm a full-time nerd-for-hire ("the IT guy", if you will). I also spend a lot of time playing Xbox, dancing, and drinking beer. Those things are all fun, but doing them with fabulous blingy nails makes it even better! xoxo